Town Square

Walmart to open San Ramon Neighborhood Market, five others today

San Ramon's Walmart Neighborhood Market will open at 7:30 a.m. today in the grocery space vacant since 2010 at the Country Club Village Shopping Center at 9100 Alcosta Blvd., with its new Pleasanton store scheduled to open next year.

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Posted by Quin
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Sep 18, 2012 at 8:36 am

Hooray! This is going to bring some needed price relief in the price of groceries. I also can't wait to buy the USDA Choice meats at a reasonable price, rather than buying the inferior USDA Select or worse under the non-informative Rancher's Reserve label at Safeway. This will also bring some needed competition to Costco whose price increases have been outpacing inflation by a big margin. Heck, Whole Paycheck Market might even have to drop thier prices!

I just with the Pleasanton store was going to open a lot sooner than mid 2013.

Posted by Pleasanton Neighbor
a resident of Amador Estates
on Sep 18, 2012 at 9:06 am

I am only interested if Wal-Mart pays the same taxes that all the other businesses do. Unfortunately, Wal-Mart makes deals with the cities that by agreeing to set-up the store in vacant retail spaces they get to NOT have to pay property taxes for around 6 years. Yep no $$ go into the city coffers for firefighters or police or ... and of those 85 jobs they say this one will have, how many of them are full time jobs with benefits so that the employees will not be on any type of charity that our taxes pay for?

It is proven fact that when a Wal-Mart goes into an area, other areas in the town go down. Many of the small Mom and POP stores have to close down. So now those spaces become vacant real estate. it just moves the blight from one area to another.

Posted by Jimfol
a resident of another community
on Sep 18, 2012 at 9:24 am

Mmmmm, there about the only store where I can get big jars of pickled eggs and pigs feet. There Freeto-Lay contract is great and allows our family to stack up on all the chips we need threwout the week. Freedom is America. Freedom is Walmart.

You are so right Pleasanton Neighbor! That exact thing happened to a dear friend of mine in another state. My friends store was in the shopping mall first and their lease stated another store that carried food couldn't go into the same mall, however, because it was WALMART, they made an exception and ran my friends right out of business!

WALMART is sly, how does anyone think they got so big. They are like a bulldozer. They could care less about anyone else, it's all about them making BIG BUCKS and treating their employee s like garbage, too!

With all of our ciities in need of the assistance to keep our cities safe and then they allow a company like WALMART to come in and occupy space without paying the taxes that all other businesses have to pay - I'd like to know who is allowing this sort of shenanigans to fly!

Posted by Metalhead
a resident of San Ramon
on Sep 18, 2012 at 12:24 pm

I expected the Walmart haters to comment. I don't love Walmart but this is a Neighborhood Market store, not a regular store. Also, they are taking over a space that was the location of a few failed grocery stores - the space has been vacant for some time. No need to shop there if you don't want to but it will be better than trying to shop at a vacant space.

Comments like "there goes the neighborhood" are what your neighbors should have said when YOU moved in. Walmart Neighborhood markets are great - they are nothing like a full-service walmart store. If the store was opening and called itself only "Neighborhood Market" it would be welcomed with open arms, but only because they put their name in front, are my snobbish neighbors complaining. As far as Walmart's business practices - they are a BUSINESS, and they are in business to turn a profit. A large majority of business people in this area have business practices which are far worse, and everyone lives in glass houses, so keep your stones in your pockets.

Posted by John
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Sep 19, 2012 at 9:20 am

And thus proceeds the homogenization of our food delivery system.

I don't think the WalMart market is any more objectionable that any Safeway, Ranch 99, Ralphs, Lucky or whatever (thought I tend to think Whole Foods and Trader Joes are better). It is all in the corporatization of our "food" delivery system. Next time you go to the store, note how many products are packaged in single-use plastics. Note how many of them are manufactured in China. This is the WalMart style, part of why it's so cheap. Cheap isn't the only mark of quality of life, though...

There goes the neighborhood indeed. 85 new jobs, lower grocery bills, all taking place in a long vacant space. I bet there's a lot of people in Stockton or Fresno that would like to see some of their neighborhoods "go" this way as well.

I live in the area and I will be visiting this store today to check it out. Thanks Walmart, and good luck!

Posted by Pleasanton Neighbor
a resident of Amador Estates
on Sep 19, 2012 at 10:43 am

Wal-Mart IS worse than Safeway and Ranch 99 and Lucky's etc. Those that shop Wal-Mart you do not understand how they hurt us in America, behind the scenes. Wal-Mart makes deals whereas they do NOT pay property taxes (for YEARS) so there is no money to help pay for police and firefighters.
Wal-Mart has put millions of people out of work in this country so you can buy your stuff cheap. So this means YOU are putting these people out of work.
You are selfish if you say you do not care. You are saying you do not care who loses their manufacturing job in this country just as long as you can buy cheap.

Well I hope you lose your job to an overseas call center, engineering firm, or manufacturer. Only then will you will feel the pain that Wal-Mart is.

Posted by Daniel
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Sep 19, 2012 at 11:42 am

The temporary property tax exemption is true for other businesses as well. It's standard practice that cities often use to draw business into depressed areas. I have no problem with this, since it helps offset the enormous cost of having to build up a business in a depressed area. And it helps gets rid of urban blight, which is what truly brings neighborhoods down.

That said, I do not think Walmart received any special tax exemptions for the proposed Pleasanton Neighborhood market location. It's been an empty, ugly eyesore for the last three years. I'm glad their going in there.

Posted by not my neighbor
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Sep 19, 2012 at 4:11 pm

Pleasanton Neighbor said: "Those that shop Wal-Mart you do not understand how they hurt us in America, behind the scenes."

Us in America...really? What you left out was, you union members who add no value to private employers (or public ones, for that matter).
You and your comrades have created the situation that encourages businesses to avoid union affiliation. You drive up costs, add no additional value and promotoe mediocrity by hiring and retaining unmotivated and hostile workers.

Thank God we have the option to vote with our dollars by shopping at sotres like WalMart's Neighborhood Market.

Posted by common sense
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Sep 19, 2012 at 7:00 pm

Shopping is not actually about the name on the store, its about the prices of products in the store. Walmart does not have the lowest prices on everything. Shop wisely. A Walmart grocery store will not put a competitive store out of business, but will stir competition. High priced snob appeal stores will suffer tho.

Posted by laurie short
a resident of another community
on Oct 20, 2012 at 12:39 am

Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market is the latest venture since sliced bread. Fantastic customers, great locations and associates that love their jobs.
If it's not for you, your lose. For me and my family we save money to live better.

Posted by Quin
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Oct 22, 2012 at 9:13 am

I encourage folks give the Wal-Mart grocery store a try, if for no other reason, to poke a sharp stick in the eye's of the union slugs. I'm just sorry that its going to take months to get the Pleasanton store open (a sharp stick for the Hippy Mayor, Cheryl Cook-Kallio and Matt Sullivan)

Dear "there goes the neighborhood" Jonas and others,
During the Planning Meeting where the unions made their last ditch attempt to stop the Walmart Neighborhood Store from coming to our city, 90% of the people from the Meadows where the Walmart market is located were practically begging the Commission to allow the Walmart so that they could, once again, have a place to shop in their neighborhood. Virtually all of the "there goes the neighborhood" detractors were union members, Safeway employees, and people from OTHER neighborhoods. If you actually do some research you will find that states with less union power (aka "Right to Work" states) have more jobs, higher pay for ALL workers, and generally better neighborhoods overall. Our new Walmart will improve the neighborhood and offer all the neighbors more choice at better prices. The unions just hate that. I long for the day when we can have better schools at lower cost with higher pay for teachers (and less for administrators). The unions hate that.
Chemist

Posted by Citizen
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Oct 22, 2012 at 9:29 am

I know, let's increase taxes on all companies outside Colyfornia that do business here and that will make up for it! NOT! Then Colyfornians can pay more than people in other states for the goods. Just like gasoline!

Posted by Angela S.
a resident of Del Prado
on Oct 22, 2012 at 12:36 pm

While all the hubbub and hoopla surrounding the end of life as we it once the Walmart Neighborhood stores open other discount grocery stores such as WinCo, Foods 4 Less, Grocery Outlet and their ilk are happily laughing all the way to the bank.

The major grocery retailers have had a great run for the past 40+ years but with a newfound sense of economy, frugality and savings not seen since the Great Depression families are willing to go outside the friendly confines of the Safeway, Lucky's, Raley's and (God forbid) Whole Foods to buy food for their families and yes, EVEN PREPARE MEALS FROM SCRATCH! Essentially at a base ingredient level the quality of food you get from a high-end grocery chain and a discount grocery store is negligible and if you MUST buy organic, free range, GMO/cage/stress free chicken that you are just going to fry, bake, BBQ or stew then you are simply too stupid to know the difference and I can't help you.

Posted by Delighted To Read
a resident of Pleasanton Valley
on Oct 22, 2012 at 3:13 pm

Delighted to read this. Definitely worth a short trip up 680 to visit this new store. Can't wait for the opening here in Pleasanton. Finally a store for those who want quality food products without all the politics of Safeway and their leftist friends.